Can something be a surprise and yet… you were expecting it somehow? That is the mix of reactions I’m experiencing at this news: Josh Brolin and Diane Lane are divorcing after eight years together. It was just this New Year’s when Josh was arrested for public intoxication, and the tabloids have claimed several times this year that Diane and Josh were on the outs. Looks like the tabs were right!

Josh Brolin and Diane Lane are going their separate ways. A little more than eight years after they tied the knot, the Cinema Verite actress, 48, and her Gangster Squad actor husband, 45, have split, reps for the couple tell Us Weekly exclusively.

“Diane Lane and Josh Brolin have decided to end their marriage,” the reps tell Us. Adds an insider: “It was a mutual decision. It is very amicable. It’s not ugly, it’s just over.”

The spouses, who married in August 2004, split a couple of months ago. They have no children together.

This will be the second divorce for both stars. Lane was previously wed to actor Christopher Lambert from 1988 to 1994 — the same years in which Brolin was married to actress Alice Adair, with whom he has two kids, Trevor, 24, and Eden, 18.

Both Oscar-nominated, Brolin and Lane enjoyed some happy times together. Speaking about his wife in 2010, the actor said, “I mean, check her out, man. My relationship with my wife is fantastic.”

Diane has a daughter from her marriage to Christopher Lambert as well. I know some of you will bring up the domestic violence rumors and how maybe this news means that Diane has finally stood up for herself… but I don’t know. Diane has always maintained that Josh was not physically abusive, although if you told me he was a moody, nasty alcoholic bastard, I wouldn’t be shocked. Hopefully this divorce will be drama-free. *fingers crossed*

UPDATE:Gossip Cop confirmed the split with their reps, so this is official.

before to be married with Brolin,she was married with Christophe Lambert (a french actor who acted Greystock and Highlander) who said their break-up had been epic but at a moment,they remembered that their daughter was the most important

- sitting on maby front rows at London Fashion Scout for new talents of designers.

- on my way to a party, bumped into Tom Hiddleston, had no idea he was at a premiere next door. Nice gentleman as per usual. Big hug with Ben Whishaw a bit later that same night before rushing to my party.

- sitting at table next to Jourdan Dunn during them Brit Awards, such a funny girl and hot young mama!

- Taylor Swift walked by and waved, huge laugh with Robbie Williams…

To name a few

I’ve been working a lot so not much on CB to enjoy Kaiser and the crew lately…

I love Diane Lane’s acting so much, and she is one of the few untweaked older actresses that I can still look up to as sexy bitches. I pray that she doesn’t join the botoxic Alien Nation! She can and will do better. Josh has philanderer-face.

I feel EXACTLY the same way as you about Diane. I really love her. Brolin…eh..I have mixed feelings about him. I think he’s really really talented and he can be funny and likable in interviews but I also get a sketchy creeper vibe from him. I don’t know if that was due to the domestic incident or if it’s just him and his philanderer face.

I guess I hoped that we were all wrong about him, that in reality Brolin was a decent dude and that he and Lane had a solid relationship. I forgot that this is Hollyweird where people get married/divorced at the drop of a hat.

Me too, cuz he is kind of sexy in an “anonymous-no-tell-motel-sex” kind of way, but he has always creeped me out too much. I hoped he might be a “reformed” crotch hound, because some of those guys are awesome when they abandon their bad boy ways, but I guess not.

Diane is the sexiest lady in Hollywood! I love her, her grace on the screen, her vulnerability in her roles. Josh get it together you lost one of the great ones! And Christoher Lambert???? What was she thinking, yuck!

Totally agree. She is fantastic! I am obsessed with her in ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ and even ‘Must Love Dogs.’ So pretty, poised and feminine and seems to stay out of the spotlight which is refreshing. And he seems like a total drunk dbag… Good for her for moving on. I want to see her with someone sweet but sexy, like Liam Neeson. Now that would be so HOT.

Not aimed just at their relationship – but it shocks me how easily people just decide they want to get divorced in Hollywood. As if marriage and the meaning behind it doesn’t really mean anything. Little fight? Divorce. Mental issues? Divorce. Hot guys/girls? I need a divorce. Sad.

To me the big difference is that celebrities are in a better financial position to end things sooner than the average person. If more people had the means then they would possibly follow suit.

Though to the actual things you describe-

Little fight: This is subjective. Given that we live in a world where serious issues are minimized. Your idea of a “little fight” may be a huge deal. Some people ( not saying you in particular) characterize emotional abuse as just a “little fight”.

Mental issues: what do you mean by that?
Quite frankly dealing with someone everyday who has mental illness or an addition is not a small thing. It can make the life of the non ill non addicted one a living hell.

Hot girls/guys: I would rather be divorced or broken up with than deal with a cheater or roving eye.

As far as Lane and Brolin, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did. There were stories about domestic abuse very early on in the marriage. The stories were denied. But his behavior was always sketchy.

“To me the big difference is that celebrities are in a better financial position to end things sooner than the average person.”

^THIS is a huge part of it for sure.

Dani-I made a similar comment above.
Honestly, I agree with both of you.
Merritt’s points are excellent, but I still think people in Hwood take marriage and divorce too lightly, mainly because it’s just too easy for them financially. Plenty of money to spend on as many marriages as they want and plenty of money to afford a divorce, plenty of money to pay for help (maids, nannies etc) to assist with the kids during divorce, etc.

Merritt – you DO make excellent points, but maybe it’s how I was brought up? My dad suffered leg amputation, near death cancer, heart failure, depression, severe anxiety and many other things, and my mother never once left his side. I should have written something else instead of mental issues, but didn’t to elaborate. By little fights I mean – so many couples fight about so many different things that to one person it could be so little but to someone else so huge, yet that doesn’t mean you should call it quits. Marriage is about compromise and work. By other men/women I mean the temptation to look outside your marriage. You see it more in Hollywood than anywhere – breaking up and divorces because of cheating/someone else. Because for them it’s just so easy to move on, because there’s always something ‘better’ out there.

The financial argument is true, it’s easier for them to get divorced, but money aside, personally, I would rather work on a marriage than divorce (unless it’s cheating). I agree with Kitten still, it’s disgusting. So many celebrities take advantage of marriage and abuse it then toss it like it’s nothing when there are people out there who are literally forbidden from getting married.

How you were raised makes a huge difference! My dad had health issues as well (seizures, nerve damage, chronic pain) and my mother raising my brother and I on top of it all. She had the financial means to leave, but didn’t. I looked for those same qualities in my husband.

That was a generation of people that knew what sacrifice was and good family values. Of course not everyone from that generation was like that, but more were then than are now.

It’s easy to get married and easy to end it. People with strong family bonds and values are hard to come by.

All that said I wonder if it was domestic violence of some sort that ended their marriage.

I don’t feel like this is the right entry for what you are saying. There seems to be very good evidence that Brolin was abusive and a cheater. I’d say those are EXCELLENT grounds for a divorce, for anybody.

Multiple infidelities and incidents of domestic violence (not to mention the emotional abuse of always having to walk on eggshells in your own home so as not to ‘provoke’ his temper) are absolutely grounds for divorce.

I did say not aimed at just their relationship. If he hits her or cheats on her she has every right to leave. But I don’t know the facts (neither do you) and I was generalizing Hollywood marriages as opposed to just them.

Considering the ‘meaning’ behind marriage was just a means to cement and expand rich peoples family fortunes and a means of ownership of women Im not sure why two people who a miserable *should* stay together just because of some contract. Is it really any better or worse if two people who aren’t married separate after 8 years? Do people with a contract really have a relationship more special than defacto couples? Was Britney Spears’ multiple marriages more deep or special than my decade long defacto relationship just because the state provided a bit of paper?

Marriage means different things for different people, it’s not ‘just’ a contract. For religious people marriage means something totally different than to people who marry rich to stay rich. My husband and I were married only by our Rabbi for the first year of our marriage because to us marriage falls in line with our religion and effects how we feel about the institution of marriage. Your relationship means something to you and someones ‘marriage contract’ means something else to them. I’m not taking away from how great your relationship was/is, I don’t doubt that it meant a lot and was better than some marriages. You might not need a ‘contract’ but in my religion (Judaism) marriage means more to us than just being tied to someone. It means being able to start a new chapter in your life as one, because as we see it, we’re one soul divided into two, that becomes one the night we’re married. To me, it’s something in a sense, holy, and unless my husband beats me or cheats on me, I will find a way to make it work even when I feel like all measures have been exhausted, because to ME, marriage is more than just a contract.

I read an article in Esquire a few months back about Josh Brolin and he’s got a lot of demons from his mom dying so early in his life, they were extremely close. The article struck me as odd because it seemed like he and Diane had two different houses and didn’t see each other too often. He clearly knows his way around a party as well.

Anybody ever hear of Postsecret? It’s a website where you anonymously send in secrets on postcards and they post some of them in their website. A while ago when i used to check it out often there was a postcard from a famous person’s wife about how while he was signing autographs and smiling for his fans she was wondering how they ( the fans) would feel if they knew the night before he beat his daughter.
I’ve always wondered who this was and after hearing about his drinking and alleged abuse towards Dianne, I wonder if could’ve been him? Not saying it is of course just wondering.

i don’t believe that Christophe Lambert(Lane’s first husband and father of her daughter) would let his adult daughter(Eleanor,20) to be beaten by his stepfather ,especially when they shared her custody

I feel as you do, shocked, however expected it somehow. I have a total girl crush on Diane, she’s such a “woman”. Or maybe I feel inspired by her. Either way, love her. I’m sure they had issues, passionate ones it seems like, but I will say that they match each other perfectly aesthetically IMO. She’s so going to find some young guy that’s going to be head over heels in love with her. Not sure why I picture that, but I do.

I’m surprised she didn’t ditch him after the first time the cops arrested him for battering her. He spent a night in jail but then she declined to prosecute. He’s a big guy & a loose cannon when he drinks. Scary for her & I’m glad they’ve split.

I don’t know; it’s rumored that Bon Jovi’s “You give Love A Bad Name” was written about her after their brief affair and he went running, not walking, back to his high school sweetheart. Josh may be a lot of thigs, but I don’t think the milk is clean where she is concerned either!

I personally have had to deal with Josh. He is mean, rude and and abusive to others. Beyond a bully. He is just nasty to people in a very blunt way not knowing he is that abrasive. He has no self awareness. Diane is lucky to get out alive. Emotionally she might need some help to recover from him.

The only thing shocking about this is how in the heck Josh Brolin managed to snag Diane Lane in the first place. Glad she finally came to her senses – as so many have already posted, she can do SOOO much better than this alcoholic asshat.

i knew right away that Diane Lane was miserable in this marriage.It was painful to watch!
I dont think she filed for divorce because Josh’s drinking problems, abusive manners or cheating rumours (althought these problems were enough to ask for a divorce). I think she looked at him one day and just came to the conclusion that she wasn’t in love with him anymore. You know your marriage is over when you stop admiring and respecting your partner. End of the story.
I guess Josh Brolin will continue to drink like hell, and probably go to jail 3 or 4 times this year, in the middle he will bang a lot of young chicks.
As for Diane, i think she will take a long break on relationships. Hopefully she will find a decent/mature man in a couple of years and forget this crazy marriage.
By the way, i saw an interview of her, last year, when she did the play Sweet bird of youth, and call me crazy, but in this video from 2:20 to 3:00